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Learn about the recent historical IAOHRA impact at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Hosted by the IAOHRA Midwest Region
By invitation only, others wanting to attend should contact us at iaohra@iaohra.org. Registration Deadline is Tuesday, December 9th.
PRESENTERS
Moderator: Angela Phelps-White, IAOHRA Midwestern Regional Representative,
Executive Director, Ohio Civil Rights Commission
Angela Phelps-White has served as Executive Director of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission since March 16, 2020. She brings extensive public-sector experience, including roles with the State Employment Relations Board, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, and over a decade as a magistrate and later a judge with the Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
Director Phelps-White holds both a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a Juris Doctor from the University of Dayton. She has served on numerous community boards and has been recognized with multiple honors, including awards from the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus and Black Women of Courage.
Dr. Alisa Warren, IAOHRA President, Executive Director, Missouri Commission on Human Rights
Dr. Alisa Warren serves as President of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies, a professional organization composed of state and local government agencies dedicated to human rights and relations, collectively serving nearly 250 million people. She is the Executive Director of the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, a state agency focused on preventing and
eliminating discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Dr. Warren's dedication to service is clear through her extensive educational and outreach efforts on both domestic and international levels. As a leader in her field, she emphasizes building strong partnerships essential for advancing human rights. She is recognized as an expert in human rights, frequently appearing on television, radio, and as a keynote speaker. She often lectures at universities and offers training for government agencies, organizations, communities, and businesses. She actively promotes compliance with international human rights treaties and has presented her arguments before the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Warren earned a Master of Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Applied Sociology, specializing in Community Development and Social Disparities, both from the University of Missouri.
Robin Toma, IAOHRA Immediate Past President, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations
Robin S. Toma has served as Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations since 2000 and leads the Human Relations Branch as Assistant Director of the Department of Community and Senior Services. His leadership has advanced efforts to reduce hate violence, foster inclusion in schools, and build community-based strategies for conflict resolution and human relations.
Robin has authored and contributed to publications on intergroup conflict, community engagement, and racialized violence, and is the immediate Past President of IAOHRA. He has held numerous leadership and advisory roles at the state, national, and international levels, including advisory positions with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and participation in multiple United Nations human rights review forums.
He holds a B.A. in Sociology and Economics from UC Santa Cruz and both a J.D. and M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA. Prior to joining the Commission, he served as a staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California.
Robert Corbisier, IAOHRA Member-At-Large, Executive Director, Alaska State Commission for Human Rights
Robert Corbisier is the Executive Director for the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights (ASCHR). A graduate of MIT and Vermont Law School, Rob started his career in the U.S. Senate working for Frank Murkowski. After graduating from law school and passing the bar, Rob returned to his home state of Alaska as the Special Assistant to the Attorney General and then was tapped to be one of Governor Murkowski's policy advisors. He went on to serve 5.5 years an Assistant District Attorney in Anchorage before transitioning to private civil practice at Reeves Amodio, LLC. In 2018, the incoming administration of Governor Dunleavy recruited Rob to come back to the Governor's Office to assist with a significant crime bill. With that accomplished, the following year the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights asked him to apply to serve as the Executive Director to rebuild the agency after a period of significant turmoil. There, Rob oversees all day-to-day operations of the agency and serves as litigation director enforcing the Alaska Human Rights Act with a dedicated team of investigators and attorneys. Under his leadership, the agency accomplished a 40-year goal to bring average investigation times to under one year and significantly expanded outreach.
JoAnn Kamuf Ward, Deputy Commissioner, Policy and External Affairs, New York City Commission on Human Rights
JoAnn Kamuf Ward is the Deputy Commissioner for Policy and External Affairs at the NYC Commission on Human Rights, where she works to advance equity and address all forms of discrimination, with a focus on housing, employment and public places. Prior to joining the Commission, Kamuf Ward directed the Human Rights in the U.S. Project at the Columbia Law School, where she promoted the use of a human rights framework to strengthen racial, gender, and socio-economic justice. She has also litigated in the private and public sectors, representing individuals and institutional clients in the general litigation practice at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and as an attorney for Mobilization for Justice.
Ms. Ward's publications include From Principles to Practice: The Role of US Mayors in Advancing Human Rights, in GLOBAL URBAN JUSTICE, published in June 2016; Using Human Rights Mechanisms of the United Nations to Advance Economic Justice in the Clearinghouse Review (2011) (with Risa Kaufman); and Human Rights Developments at the State and Local Level in the United States: A Bird’s-Eye View in The Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly (April 2016) (with Sarah Paoletti). Of particular interest to IAOHRA members is her recent article, Challenging a Climate of Hate and Fostering Inclusion: the Role of U.S. State and Local Human Rights Commissions, published in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review in the Fall of 2017.
Jamil Dakwar, Director, American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program
Jamil Dakwar is an international human rights lawyer and adjunct professor at New York University and Hunter College. Currently, he leads the American Civil Liberties Union’s Human Rights Program, which conducts research, litigation, and advocacy to hold the U.S. government accountable for its international human rights obligations and commitments. His expertise frequently appears in domestic and international media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, AFP, The Hill, The Intercept, Middle East Eye, and Al Jazeera English. He serves as the ACLU’s main representative to the United Nations and leads the ACLU’s international advocacy before other regional and international bodies, including the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. Notably, in 2004, Mr. Dakwar was one of the ACLU’s first observers to the military commission system at Guantanamo Bay. In 2025, he was reappointed as a member of the New York State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Prior to joining the ACLU, Mr. Dakwar worked at Human Rights Watch, where he conducted research, advocated, and published reports on issues of torture and detention in Egypt, Morocco, Israel, and Palestine. Before coming to the United States, he was a senior attorney with Adalah, a leading human rights group in Israel, where he filed and argued human rights cases before Israeli courts and advocated before international forums. Mr. Dakwar serves on the boards of several organizations, including the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), and Adalah Justice Project (AJP).